Asheboro High offers affordable prom dresses for students

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ASHEBORO, N.C.--Getting dressed up for prom is a rite of passage for many high school students.

Finding the perfect prom attire can be costly, but for students at Asheboro High School there's an option called The Prom Shop.

Sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Asheboro, The Prom Shop is a place where students can find prom dresses and even a few tuxes, without spending a lot of money.

For $20, students can get a dress or tux to wear on prom night, and then return it and get their $20 back.

The biggest challenge for the staff at The Prom Shop, is finding a place to the nearly 300 prom dresses at the school.

Terri Sexton came up with the idea for the shop three years ago. She knew many people, including herself, who had new or gently used dresses in the closet.

The dresses, tuxes and accessories are all donated.

"Some people have bought a dress and never worn it so they donated it," Terri said, "They had bunches of clothing hanging in their closet like this that they don't use again. We were like, we need to do something with that."

She teamed up with First Baptist Church of Asheboro and the idea took off. She had 100 dresses the first year and now in its third year, she has more than 300.

This year, The Prom Shop had to move to a unique location.

"This is the boys bathroom for the band kids," Terri told us as we watch young women and men look through an assortment of fashionable dress prom wear, "They graciously let me borrow it this time of year to set all this up."

This bathroom is one of the few places in the school that can be locked when Terri isn't around.